This article explores how group playing by ear (GEP) through imitation of recorded material and opportunities for inventive work during peer interaction was used to support first year undergraduate western classical music students' aural, group creativity and improvisation skills. The framework that emerged from the analysis of the data describes two routes taken by the students, whilst progressing from GEP to group improvisation and it is compared to Priest's (1989) model on playing by ear through imitation and invention. The article concludes with suggestion on how these two routes could be used to scaffold the development of western classical musicians' improvisation skills